Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Attraction: Old Dominion, Jordan Davis, & Mitchell Tenpenny
This week’s date night was a good one (Not that they all aren’t good, but this one just happen to involve one of my favorite bands right now). The Old Dominion concert! Jill knew that I really enjoy them, so she took it upon herself to get us tickets. Receiving gifts is not anywhere near my top Love Language, but it is still super nice to know your loved one is thinking about you and the things that you like.
Before the show we decided to grab a bite and a drink and since we were in Cedar Rapids, I had to go visit my good buddy and cousin, Brett, at his bar the Grin N Goose. The bar was bumping and there wasn’t a seat to be found, but he spoiled us by taking our order while we waited for a seat to open up and when our food came before there was a free table, he politely asked some other friends of his that were sitting at the bar if they would free up a seat so we could eat at the bar. What a nice dude! The food was super good and I found a new favorite beer, Lion Bridge’s Yard Sale IPA.
I didn’t do a very good job of checking out the openers for this show, but man, I was really pleased with the openers. Mitchell Tenpenny was the first opener and he put on one hell of a show. He was followed by Jordan Davis, who also killed it. They both had songs that I knew and liked but I didn’t realize who sang them.
The one thing I really enjoyed about this show was how Old Dominion not only put on a good show with their music and special effects, but they seemed to genuinely have a good time. The lead singer was often laughing as he was singing and you could just tell he was having fun. I think that is the key to success in any media based medium; connection with your audience. But you can’t fake it. It has to be authentic. I think the same goes for Instagram, pod-casts, YouTube and even radio DJs. If you are relatable and authentic, your audience is going to grow. I’ll never forget the time I saw Randy Houser at Country on the River, a country music festival in Praire Du Chien, WI. He wasn’t a big name at the concert and didn’t have a ton of songs that I even knew, but he was up there having a great time and his laugh was so infectious that I couldn’t help but have a good time too. Old Dominion reminded me of that.
My favorite part of the show was when they grabbed some bar stools and their guitars and talked to the crowd about their journey. They talked about how they started out just wanting to be song writers and did that for about ten years before someone big sang one of their songs. Even then, their band wasn’t well known and their shows were pretty thinly populated. They went through about 10 songs that they sold to other country stars, but they wrote. Each song the talked about for a bit before playing a little of it. It was a great way to connect to the audience. We both danced and sang and were pretty exhausted when the show was over. Another great date in the books.
Love Live Connect 